


slip of the tongue

by peanutbrain



Category: Ghost (Sweden Band)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Short & Sweet, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28530879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peanutbrain/pseuds/peanutbrain
Summary: Swiss tries to teach Rain a fun new game.
Relationships: Multi Ghoul | Swiss Army Ghoul/Rain | Water Ghoul
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	slip of the tongue

“So I put on the headphones?” Rain asked, holding them up with both hands to inspect them.

Swiss nodded, taking his place on the floor opposite him. He reached for his phone and searched through his playlists to find the one with the loudest songs. For a moment he wondered whether a heavy metal one or a dubstep one was better, but ultimately settled on his workout playlist—it was a perfectly loud and obnoxious combination of both.

“Yep,” he said, giving the bassist a bright smile. “And turn the music up all the way!”

“Oh—kay?” Rain wasn’t convinced, but he reluctantly put on the headphones. Then he looked at Swiss quizzically, waiting for further instructions.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” Swiss assured him, reaching for the wire to connect the headphones to his phone. “I played it with Aether and Dew, it’s perfectly safe. Don’t you trust me?”

“I do,” Rain said quietly, looking away, a faint blush colouring his cheeks.

Swiss paused for a moment and just looked at him with a goofy smile. Then he blinked a few times and picked his phone up. He made sure the volume was raised all the way up and gave Rain a mischievous grin.

“Okay, ready?” he asked and Rain nodded. “You’ve got three tries.”

Rain nodded once more and Swiss pressed play on his phone. The water ghoul winced when the first sounds of some dubstep remix blasted from the headphones, but didn’t take them off. Instead, he gave a final nod to signal he was ready. Swiss smiled and leaned back, propping himself on his outstretched arms. Then, he said his sentence, doing his best to pronounce each word separately and clearly.

Rain bit down on his lower lip, staring intently at Swiss’ mouth. He had very nice lips. So nice, in fact, that for a moment they completely distracted Rain from the game. It was only when Swiss tilted his head slightly in a silent question that the water ghoul realised he’d been staring like a complete weirdo. He blushed and looked away.

“Repeat, please?” he asked, probably way too loudly.

When he looked up, Swiss repeated his sentence and this time Rain was focused and ready, trying to read his lips and straining to hear him over the music. He was pretty sure the first word was a _the,_ and the next one might’ve been _cardinal;_ they uttered them so often, it was fairly easy to recognise them. What was next though?

“The Cardinal—?” Rain started awkwardly, feeling himself flush with embarrassment. 

He was sure he was making a fool of himself and he started to regret that he'd agreed to this game in the first place, but he had always found it hard to refuse when Swiss asked. And it was his encouraging smile that got Rain to continue instead of quitting.

“The Cardinal eats a rat barely moving?” he mumbled.

Swiss laughed, shaking his head, and raised his index finger. Rain bit the inside of his cheek and inhaled through his nose. He still felt incredibly awkward and that first failure only made him more nervous; he didn’t even notice when he started fidgeting. He only realised that when Swiss leaned forward and gently grabbed both of his hands to still them, a soft smile playing on his lips.

“Re—Repeat, please?” Rain stammered, aware of how red his face must’ve got.

Swiss didn’t seem to notice and if he did, he didn’t appear to mind. Without letting go of Rain’s hands, he repeated the sentence and the bassist could swear this time he spoke more loudly.

“The Cardinal is a rat Trojans fancy?” he said quickly.

Swiss made a gesture that Rain knew meant _almost,_ but then raised two of his fingers. Without waiting for the water ghoul to ask, he repeated his sentence once again. Rain racked his brain for words sounding similar to the ones from his previous guess, but suddenly his head was completely empty. 

It was simply impossible to think with Swiss’ beautiful, dark eyes fixed on him.

“The Cardinal is,” Rain started slowly, face scrunched up in concentration, “a rat telling farces?”

Swiss laughed again, letting go of Rain’s hands to lean back and shaking his head. Rain took the headphones off and laid them next to himself on the floor; the music was still so loud, it couldn’t have been healthy.

“You were so close for a moment!” Swiss exclaimed between bouts of laughter. Once he calmed down a bit, he sat up straight and looked Rain in the eye. “Wanna hear the correct version?”

Rain just nodded. 

“The Cardinal is a _Ratatouille_ fanboy.”

There was a moment of silence before Rain’s mind fully registered the sentence, and then the water ghoul started laughing. Swiss joined him and the two of them just sat there and giggled for a long moment. It was nice. It was always nice with Swiss. 

Somehow, his warm, hearty laughter made Rain care a lot less about sounding like an idiot.

“My turn now,” Swiss said and reached for the headphones.

He waited for a new song to start before he nodded to announce his readiness—and like that, the game continued.

They played two more rounds and neither of them won, but with each turn Rain became more and more relaxed, his nervousness eventually evaporating into thin air. He was having a lot of fun hearing Swiss talk nonsense without a shred of embarrassment. It was sweet and so completely endearing. It was just so—so _Swiss-like._

If Rain hadn’t been so completely head over heels in love with him already, he was sure he’d fall for him in that moment. The thought made more colour spill onto his already-reddened cheeks.

“Alright, my turn,” Swiss said, taking the headphones from Rain and putting them on.

Rain frowned, looking down and chewing on his lower lip. He was looking for a funny lyric or a quote to twist, something that would make Swiss laugh even if he guessed it on the first try. Then he looked up and caught Swiss looking at him, a soft little smile on his handsome face, eyes dark but shining like pools of molten chocolate—and he was done for. 

“I’m in love with you,” he said before he fully realised he was speaking.

For a moment both of them were frozen: Rain, frightened but unable to look away from those enchanting eyes; Swiss, with his head tilted slightly to the side and brows furrowed in an attempt to focus. He clearly hadn’t heard Rain. The bassist breathed a sigh of relief, painfully aware that his face was starting to resemble a tomato.

Then he realised that Swiss may ask him to repeat himself and he almost panicked.

“Amen, down with Dew?” Swiss asked instead.

Rain panicked anyway.

“Yes!” he yelled, nodding fervently. Then, before Swiss could even take off the headphones, he jumped to his feet, looking around for his discarded mask; trying to come up with an excuse to leave and _now._

“Hey, are you alright?” he heard Swiss ask with apparent worry.

“Yes! It’s just—It’s late, we should go to sleep now,” Rain was rambling, his heart beating wildly in his chest. “We’re leaving early and all, it’s really—We should—I mean…”

Swiss’ hand closed around his wrist and it was enough to freeze him in place, like deer in the headlights. He turned slowly, eyes open wide and face flushed bright red, and was met with his bandmate’s concerned expression. He put his free hand on Rain’s forehead as if checking his body temperature.

“You look a bit feverish, are you sure you’re alright?” he asked softly. 

Rain nodded again, aiming for a reassuring smile—and failing miserably, if Swiss’ deepening frown was anything to go by. Not wanting to worry him more, the water ghoul took in a calming breath and placed his shaking hand on Swiss’ shoulder.

“I’m fine, I promise,” he said sincerely. “It’s just really late.”

Swiss eyed him carefully for a moment, then nodded and finally let him go. “Guess it is,” he sighed.

Rain watched him pick his phone and headphones up from the floor and place them on the nearest flat surface. Then, before Swiss could stop him, he grabbed his mask and made his way towards the door, but stopped with his hand on the handle.

“It was fun,” he said quietly. “Your game. Maybe we could play again some other time?”

“Sure.” Swiss gave him a soft, affectionate smile. “Sleep well now, Rain Baby,” he added with a wink.

“Goodnight, Swiss,” Rain whispered.

He slipped away into the empty hallway before his face could get any redder. He had been so close to confessing his feelings; so close, but as always, he’d chickened out. _Next time,_ he promised himself for a hundredth time. Next time, he was going to tell him.

But not just yet.


End file.
